Willie Thrasher | |
|---|---|
 Willie Thrasher photographed in Montréal , Québec , Canada at La Sala Rossa. | |
| Born | 1948 |
| Occupation | Musician |
| Years active | 1960s - present |
Willie Thrasher (born 1948) is a Canadian Inuvialuit musician from Aklavik, Northwest Territories. [1] He has recorded both as a solo artist, and as a member of several bands, including The Cordells, and Red Cedar, with Morley Loon. Thrasher has advocated for Inuit and First Nations issues for much of his career.
Thrasher was born in 1948, [2] in Aklavik. He was born into the traditional Inuit hunting culture of the western Arctic; his father was a whaler and hunter. At age five, he was removed from his family and placed in the Canadian government's residential school system. In Aklavik, he attended the Immaculate Conception and Grollier Hall Residential Schools until he was sixteen., [3] where he learned to play drums on a kit in the gym. [2] After leaving school, he worked as a forest firefighter in Whitehorse, and began playing in rock groups. [4] A fan of Beatles drummer Ringo Starr, Thrasher formed a band called the Cordells with his brother and friends. [2]
The Cordells toured northern Canada in the late 1960s and early 1970s, playing schools and community halls. Based out of Inuvik, they were considered the town's first rock and roll band, and played mostly contemporary songs and covers. [5] After a show in the mid-1970s, Thrasher was approached by an elderly man and challenged as to why he didn't play music that reflected his Inuit heritage. [5] From that point, Thrasher moved into more personal songwriting and began studying Inuit music. [5]
After this change in style, Thrasher joined popular artists such as Buffy Sainte-Marie and Willie Dunn (Mi'kmaq descent) in exploring Indigenous topics in the mid-1970s, and speaking out on political issues. [6] Thrasher toured heavily in this period, and suffered from alcoholism. [4] In the early 1980s, Thrasher made two recordings with the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation's Northern Service: Spirit Child, a full-length studio album of original songs, and Sweet Grass, a live recording in Val-d'Or, Quebec, with fellow First Nations musicians Willy Mitchell, Morley Loon, and Roger House. [7]
Thrasher joined Morley Loon as part of his Vancouver-based Red Cedar group in the 1980s. In 1990, Thrasher participated in the Odeyak expedition, where Cree and Inuit leaders paddled from Quebec to New York City. [3] A song composed by Thrasher was performed in Times Square by the group. [8] In 1998, Thrasher performed as part of a revival of traditional potlach ceremonies organised by Commissioner of the Yukon Judy Gingell in Whitehorse. [9]
His songs "Spirit Child", "Old Man Carver" and "We Got to Take You Higher" are featured on the 2014 compilation album Native North America, Vol. 1 . [10] As a result of the revived publicity from the Native North America compilation, Thrasher has undertaken more extensive touring, including festival dates in Austin, Texas and the Northwest Territories, [1] and his 1981 album Spirit Child was reissued in October 2015 on Light in the Attic Records. [11] Thrasher currently lives on Vancouver Island, in British Columbia. [4]
Susan Aglukark,, is a Canadian singer whose blend of Inuit folk music traditions with country and pop songwriting has made her a major recording star in Canada. Her most successful song/single is "O Siem", which reached No. 1 on the Canadian country and adult contemporary charts in 1995. Overall, she has released seven studio albums and has won three Juno Awards.
An inuksuk or inukshuk is a type of stone landmark or cairn built by, and for the use of, Inuit, Iñupiat, Kalaallit, Yupik, and other peoples of the Arctic region of North America. These structures are found in northern Canada, Greenland, and Alaska. This combined region, north of the Arctic Circle, is dominated by the tundra biome and has areas with few natural landmarks.
Traditional Inuit music, the music of the Inuit, Yupik, and Iñupiat, has been based on drums used in dance music as far back as can be known, and a vocal style called katajjaq has become of interest in Canada and abroad.
Indigenous music of Canada encompasses a wide variety of musical genres created by Aboriginal Canadians. Before European settlers came to what is now Canada, the region was occupied by many First Nations, including the West Coast Salish and Haida, the centrally located Iroquois, Blackfoot and Huron, the Dene to the North, and the Innu and Mi'kmaq in the East and the Cree in the North. Each of the indigenous communities had their own unique musical traditions. Chanting – singing is widely popular and most use a variety of musical instruments.
Aklavik is a hamlet located in the Inuvik Region of the Northwest Territories, Canada. Until 1961, with a population over 1,500, the community served as the regional administrative centre for the territorial government.
CBC North is the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation's radio and television service for the Northwest Territories, Nunavut, and Yukon of Northern Canada as well as Eeyou Istchee and Nunavik in the Nord-du-Québec region of Quebec.
William Lawrence Dunn was a Canadian singer-songwriter, film director and politician. Born in Montreal, he was of mixed Mi'kmaq and Scottish/Irish background. Dunn often highlighted indigenous issues in his work.
Abraham "Abe" Okpik, CM was an Inuit community leader in Canada. He was instrumental in helping Inuit obtain surnames rather than disc numbers as a form of government identification. He was also the first Inuk to sit on what is now the Legislative Assembly of the Northwest Territories and worked with Thomas Berger.
Inuit are a group of culturally and historically similar Indigenous peoples traditionally inhabiting the Arctic and subarctic regions of North America, including Greenland, Labrador, Quebec, Nunavut, the Northwest Territories, Yukon (traditionally), Alaska, and Chukotsky District of Chukotka Autonomous Okrug, Russia. Inuit languages are part of the Eskimo–Aleut languages, also known as Inuit-Yupik-Unangan, and also as Eskaleut. Inuit Sign Language is a critically endangered language isolate used in Nunavut.
Music of Canadian Cultures is a wide and diverse accumulation of music from many different individual communities all across Canada. With Canada being vast in size, the country throughout its history has had regional music scenes. The music of Canada has reflected the multi-cultural influences that have shaped the country. First Nations people, the French, the British, the United States and many others nationalities have all made unique contributions to the musical heritage of Canada
Over the course of centuries, many Indigenous Canadians have played a critical role in shaping the history of Canada. From art and music, to law and government, to sports and war; Indigenous customs and culture have had a strong influences on defining Canadian culture. The Indspire Awards are the annual awards presented by Indspire, formerly the National Aboriginal Achievement Foundation. The awards were first established in 1993 in conjunction with the United Nations declaring the 1990s "International Decade of the World's Indigenous peoples". June 21 is Canada's National Aboriginal Day, in recognition of the cultural contributions made by Canada's indigenous population. The day was first celebrated in 1996 following Governor General of Canada Roméo LeBlanc's proclamation.
The following is an alphabetical list of topics related to Indigenous peoples in Canada, comprising the First Nations, Inuit and Métis peoples.
Inuit Nunangat refers to the land, water, and ice of the homeland of Inuit in Canada. This Arctic homeland consists of four northern Canadian regions called the Inuvialuit Settlement Region, the territory Nunavut (ᓄᓇᕗᑦ), Nunavik (ᓄᓇᕕᒃ) in northern Quebec, and Nunatsiavut of Newfoundland and Labrador.
Agnes Nanogak Goose was an Inuk artist from Holman (Ulukhaktok), Northwest Territories, Canada.
Morley Loon was a Canadian First Nations musician, from Mistissini, Quebec. Loon played in several groups, including Red Cedar and Kashtin, but was mostly known for his solo work. He mostly wrote and performed in the Cree language, and was a prominent activist for First Nations issues.
Willy Mitchell is a Canadian First Nations musician. Mitchell recorded and toured mostly in the 1970s with his Desert River Band. He co-organized the 1980 Sweet Grass festival in Val-d'Or, Quebec, which gathered Inuit and First Nations musicians from across Canada.
Native North America, Vol. 1: Aboriginal Folk, Rock, and Country 1966–1985 is a compilation album, released in 2014 on Light in the Attic Records.
Abraham Anghik Ruben is an Inuvialuit Canadian sculptor of Yup'ik descent. Ruben was born south of the hamlet of Paulatuk in the Inuvik Region east of the Mackenzie River Delta in the Northwest Territories, Canada in 1951.
willie thrasher.
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